ACMR Newsletter
Transcript of ACMR Newsletter
Membership Dues
MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Membership Reminder
We encourage your new membership and renewal for the 2015-16 period.
Current membership dues are $15 for those in professional positions and independent scholars,
and $10 for students. Please define your status in replying. Please notify us of address and email
changes. Payments made at the annual meeting, especially in cash, are cumbersome and a poor use
of the business meeting time.
Payment can now be made through the ACMR PayPal account. If you wish to pay through this
method send me a request for a PayPal invoice and currency type (e.g. Hong Kong Dollars). Oth-
erwise, make your payment by check to ACMR and mail to:
Alan L. Kagan, Treasurer
Association for Chinese Music Research
1376 Christensen Ave.
West St. Paul, MN 55118
November 2015 Volume 21, number 2
Inside this issue:
People and Places 2
Announcements 2-3
Recent Publications 3
Remembering Ma
Shui-long 4
Mingmei Yip on Qin 7
Shanghai World
Music Forum 11
American Folklore
Society 12
CHIIME 13
Upcoming
Conferences 14
This fall issue of the ACMR Newsletter carries a number of items that
will be of interest to a broad readership. Luca Pisano writes about the
life and music of the renowned Taiwanese composer Ma Shui-long
(1939–2015), whom Pisano describes as a “selfless music craftsman”
and “propagator of western musical ideas but never their worship-
per.” Mingmei Yip’s contribution gives us a glimpse into her life as a
calligrapher, prolific author, and devoted musician of the qin seven-
string zither. We also have reports from Mercedes Dujunco on the
2015 Shanghai World Music Forum and from Sue Tuohy on the 2015
American Folklore Society Conference in Long Beach, California. As
always, the Newsletter includes updated lists of conferences, events,
announcements, and recent publications.
The 2015 ACMR Meeting will be held on Thursday, December 3,
2015, from 8 to 10 pm in Room 616B of Hilton Austin, in conjunction
with the Society for Ethnomusicology’s Annual Meeting in Austin,
Texas. We will open with three presentations: Yuxin Mei on the
Houston Chinese Traditional Music Group; Mercedes Dujunco on the festive sounds of Gang-
kou District in Chaozhou (Teochew); and Elise Anderson on language use in Uyghur performing
arts. We will hold the regular business meeting from 9 to 10 pm, during which the results of the
Pian Prize and the Smith Prize will be announced. We will also relaunch the Ruby Chao Yeh
Travel Award, with adjusted application requirements (refer to page 3 for details).
I would like to end by thanking our outgoing Newsletter editor Gloria Wong. The ACMR News-
letter has made major improvements during her leadership over the past few years. We are
looking for a new person to join the editorial team. Please consider serving as a Newsletter
editor. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. I look forward to seeing you in
Austin. Chuen-Fung Wong
ACMR Newsletter http://acmr.info/ Association for Chinese Music Research 中國音樂研究會通訊
Chuen-Fung
Wong
Announcement of 2014 Yeh Student Travel Award
Competition
People and Places
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 2
Ann L. Silverberg is in China for a year as a Fulbright
senior research scholar. She is preparing a book on
the contemporary status of the zheng zither (also
called the guzheng). Silverberg seeks scholars willing to
serve as “beta” (trial) readers of her book manuscript
next spring. If you would like to help with this task,
please email her at [email protected]. Thank you!
Eric Lai, Professor of Music Theory at Baylor Universi-
ty, presented a lecture, “From Re-merger to Re-
emergence: The Evolution of Chou Wen-chung’s Mu-
sic,” at Common Practice 21C: Classical, Contempo-
rary, and Cross-Cultural Music (festival), Rice Univer-
sity, March 14, 2015.
About ACMR
The Association for Chinese Music Research (ACMR) serves as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information
for anyone interested in the scholarly study of Chinese music. Catering mainly though not exclusively to those living
in North America, ACMR holds an annual meeting in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Society for Ethno-
musicology.
ACMR’s online discussion group is hosted by the University of Hawai’i. To send messages to the list, please use the
address [email protected]. If you have any questions about the list, write to Ted Kwok at [email protected].
ACMR Newsletter is published twice a year in spring and fall. We encourage ACMR members to submit the following
kinds of materials: notices of recent publications and recently completed dissertations or theses, announcements of
and reports on scholarly and performing activities, news of institutions and individuals, as well as views and opinions
on any matter relevant to ACMR. Please send all materials and enquiries to [email protected]. Back is-
sues are available at http://acmr.info/.
and researchers in the field of Chinese music from
around the world to discuss issues in translating
concepts/terms of Chinese music and academic writ-
ings on this subject.
One of the group’s long-term goals is to build an
online Chinese music term thesaurus that will help
disambiguate, standardize, and regulate the spelling,
transliteration, translation, and use of Chinese music
terms such as genre names, concepts, instruments,
etc. Currently, CCTSS is working with Répertoire
International de Littérature Musicale (RILM) on this
project and sincerely welcomes your participation and
contribution.
If you are interested in joining the group or have any
questions concerning the group or the CCTSS pro-
ject, please contact Yun Fan at [email protected].
New Online Platform for Chinese Music Scholarship The Chinese Culture Translation and Studies Support
(CCTSS) is a digital project launched in 2014, support-
ed by the Propaganda Department of the Central
Committee of the CPC and supervised by the Bureau
for External Cultural Relations, Ministry of Culture. It
aims to promote Chinese culture and scholarly works.
The project‘s official website cctss.org (currently under
revision) is a place for scholars and translators world-
wide to cooperate on various projects and to provide a
platform for promoting Chinese culture and scholarship
around the globe.
CCTSS’s music translation group (中国音乐研究翻译小组) is dedicated to the promotion of Chinese music
and Chinese music research to scholars and general
readers via online and offline activities including coop-
erative translation projects, conferences, and work-
shops. This group will serve as a platform for scholars
Dr. Mei Han (Ph.D. University of British Columbia)
has been appointed as the founding Director of the
Center for Chinese Music and Culture at Middle Ten-
nessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Dr. Han will create and oversee a new museum of
Chinese musical instruments, library, concert and
lecture programs with a focus on intercultural educa-
tion and understanding. She will also teach Ethnomu-
sicology and direct a Chinese Music Ensemble as a
tenured Associate Professor at the MTSU School of
Music. Dr. Han Ph.D. is an internationally acclaimed
performer on the Chinese zheng.
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 3
Gong Hong-yu 宫宏宇. “晚清海关洋员与国际博览会上的中国音乐——以1884年伦敦国际卫生博览会为例.” [Exhibiting China: The Chinese Maritime Customs
and the Representation of Chinese Music at the 1884
London International Health Exhibition] 《中央音乐学院学报》[Journal of the Central Conservatory of Music] 2015/2:
3–19.
Gong Hong-yu 宫宏宇. “法国汉学家库朗与20世纪初域外中国音乐研究” (1) [Maurice Courant and the Study of
Chinese Music in Early 20th Century France – The Case of
Essai historique sur la musique classique des Chinois] 《音乐研究》[Music Research] 2015/4: 64–75.
Recent Publications Gong Hong-yu 宫宏宇. “晚清上海租界外侨音乐活动述略” [Music and Theatre in Shanghai’s Foreign Concessions,
1843 - 1911] 《音乐艺术》[Art of Music] 2015/2: 19–29.
McGuire, Colin. 2015. “The Rhythm of Combat: Under-
standing the Role of Music in Performances of Traditional
Chinese Martial Arts and Lion Dance.” MUSICultures 42(1):
1–23.
McGuire, Colin. 2016. “Hong Kong: Food of the Fragrant
Harbour” In The Ethnomusicologists’ Cookbook: Complete
Meals from Around the World (Volume II), ed. Sean Williams,
28–34. New York, NY: Routledge.
The Association for Chinese Music Research (ACMR) is
proud to present the Ruby Chao Yeh Award for Student
Travel. The award aims to promote graduate and under-
graduate student research on Chinese music by support-
ing paper presentations at the annual meeting of the Soci-
ety for Ethnomusicology (SEM).
The annual Yeh award will provide $300 toward travel
expenses for one student whose paper on Chinese music
has been accepted in the SEM general program (with sec-
ondary consideration given to student paper presenta-
tions at the ACMR meeting). The award will be presented
at the ACMR meeting, held in conjunction with the SEM
meeting, and an announcement will be published in the
ACMR newsletter.
The Yeh award committee will include three members:
the ACMR President, Nora Yeh or designate, and one
additional ACMR officer. At the time of application, the
applicant must be a graduate or undergraduate student
enrolled full-time in any discipline in a US academic insti-
tution. The proposed paper must show careful research
and analysis that contributes to the scholarly study of
Chinese music.
Ruby Chao Yeh Student Travel Award Announcement
Applications must include:
1. One-page cover letter describing the applicant’s
background and current activities, indicating why the
applicant deserves consideration for this award
2. One-page CV (which includes the applicant’s contact
information: institutional affiliation, address, phone
number, and academic email address)
3. Title and abstract for accepted paper presentation
4. One letter of recommendation from an instructor or
mentor, sent under separate cover
Please send all materials to ACMR President Chuen-Fung
Wong ([email protected]) by September 1, 2016.
Applicants will normally be notified regarding the out-
come of the award competition in late September.
Founded in 1986, the ACMR is an interdisciplinary net-
work of individuals engaged in the study of Chinese music
in all historical periods and contexts. ACMR meets annu-
ally in conjunction with the SEM conference and occa-
sionally at the conference of the Association for Asian
Studies. For further information on ACMR, publications,
and membership, please see our website at
http://www.acmr.info/.
ACMR Annual Meeting Thursday, December 3, 8-10 pm
Hilton Austin, Room 616B
Program (8-9 pm)
Yuxin Mei (University of North Texas): “Negotiating Decades of Change in America: The Houston
Chinese Traditional Music Group”
Mercedes Dujunco (Suzhou University of Science and Technology): “Firecrackers, Gongs and
Operas: Festival Sounds and the Mapping of Gangkou District in Chaozhou Region of Guangdong”
Elise Anderson (Indiana University): “An Ideology of the Pen, Stage, and Screen: Language Use and
Purity in the Uyghur Performing Arts”
Business Meeting (9-10 pm)
Recent Publications
Announcement of 2014 Yeh Student Travel Award
Competition
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 4
Renowned composer Ma Shui-long passed away on May
2, 2015 at the age of 75 after a period of illness. Ma was
born in 1939 in a small village near Keelung, Taiwan. His
interest in music started in the most spontaneous way
during his childhood, when he was exposed to both
Western and Chinese music (namely Beiguan music and
Taiwanese Opera). He learned to play piano during
elementary school years, later shifting to cello, his most
preferred among Western instruments. Besides his
musical training, Ma was fond of painting and fine arts and
received formal training in these fields as well. He spent
most of his high school years wavering between painting
and music, hesitant whether he should concentrate on
the former or the latter. He eventually chose to pursue
music studies, and in 1959 he was admitted to the De-
partment of Music of the National Arts School (now
National Taiwan University of Arts), majoring in composi-
tion. Ma himself called this “the most significant turning
point” in his life. Even at this early stage, Ma was already
conscious that he did not only want to focus on playing,
but also felt the necessity to compose his own music. He
studied composition with Xiao Erhua 蕭而化 (1906-
1985) and music theory with Hsu Tsang-Houei (Xu
Changhui 許常惠, 1929-2001) and Lu Yen (Lu Yan 盧炎,
1930-2008), and graduated in 1964. After graduation, Ma
held a teaching position for several years. In 1972 he was
granted a full scholarship to study at Regensburg Music
Academy in Germany, where he learned Western com-
position methods with Oskar Sigmund (1919-2008). He
graduated with honors in 1975 and returned to Taiwan
to serve as Associate Professor in the Music Department
at Soochow University in Taipei.
As his reputation as a composer blossomed, Ma gained
international acclaim and was commissioned to write
works performed in many countries. His Bamboo Flute
Concerto (https://youtu.be/6cCkFkmUU3U) was per-
formed in 1983 by the American National Symphony
Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich at Taipei’s
Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. In 1986, he was granted a
Fulbright Award for music research in the United Stated
where he also performed his own compositions at
Lincoln Center in New York; so far he is the first and
only Taiwanese composer to have his works presented
there. In 1994, Ma received the Council for Cultural
Affair Grant to give lectures at Yale, Harvard, and North-
ern Illinois University. He received several other awards,
including the Third National Award for Arts in Music
(1999), honorary doctorate degrees by National Tainan
University and National Taipei University of Arts, and
the Executive Yuan Cultural Award (2007).
Ma Shui-long also served as chair of the Music Depart-
ment at National Taiwan University of Arts and at
National Taipei University of Arts. In addition, Ma
served as a member of the Council of Cultural Affairs
and National Endowment for Culture and Arts, Execu-
tive Yuan; honorary President of the Asian Compos-
ers’ League of Taiwan; director of the Taiwan Com-
poser’s Association; board member of the Executive
Juridical Body of the National CKS Cultural Center;
and executive officer of Chew’s Culture Foundation.
Ma’s musical output consists of nearly one hundred
works, spans over four decades, and includes orches-
tral, chamber, instrumental music and choral works. I
had the honor and pleasure of meeting Professor Ma
Shui-long in June 2002 while working on my research
on piano music works by contemporary Taiwanese
composers. We primarily discussed the general situa-
tion of contemporary music in Taiwan, and I asked him
to define the sources of his musical inspiration as a
composer. As he related to me, the most relevant was
the influence of the natural environment that sur-
rounded him during his early years. Traditional music
and folk songs had a deep impact on him, as did the
sounds of nature (sea waves, rain, and so forth) that
related to his native place. This is rather clear from his
earlier compositions, such as his Rondo for piano
(1963), which has a strong traditional flavor, or A
Sketch of the Rainy Harbor for piano (1970, https://
youtu.be/Fa5mWTZ7G_c), where Ma tried to portray
the landscape of his childhood years in the small town
of Jioufen (Jiufen 九份), over Keelung city harbor.
According to Ma, most of his solo piano works came
from the early stage of his compositional evolution,
and they all reveal his preference at that time for small
-scale works. He soon became aware of the deep
influence of Western musical taste while learning
composition; therefore in later years as a music
professor, he stressed the importance of Chinese
music training in conjunction with Western training, in
order to allow students majoring in composition to
have broader competence in their own musical tradi-
tion. Since most of the teaching materials on Western
instruments were related to Western music models,
he wrote Piano Pieces on Chinese Folk Tunes for Children
(1980, https://youtu.be/dM0rEaSzPXo) to provide
Luca Pisano, Kore University of Enna
Remembering Ma Shui-long 馬水龍 (1939-2015)
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 5
young students with short piano works showing
distinctive Chinese flavor. This kind of peculiar touch
goes far beyond the mere use of pentatonic music; Ma
strongly believed that Taiwanese composers should
find their own musical language like Bartók (whom he
appreciated a lot) did with Hungarian and other East-
ern European music traditions as expressions of
national identity.
He became even more aware of this task returning to
Taiwan in 1975, after his period of study in Germany.
His compositional style showed a major change togeth-
er with a deeper understanding of his role as both
composer and educator. Among his later works,
representative of his mature language are the Capriccio
of Kuando (關渡狂想曲) for piano and orchestra (2001,
https://youtu.be/RIR6sYx4qW8) and the orchestral
suite Xiang Yu and His Concubine (霸王虞姬) written in
1991 and adapted to dance drama in 2012. Writing the
Capriccio of Kuando, Ma Shui-long was inspired by the
magnificent landscape view from his apartment over
the Kuando plain, north of Taipei. He had previously
written a solo piano piece titled Kuando Sketch that he
later used to compose the Capriccio of Kuando. The work
is more similar to a Konzertstück in a continuous move-
ment than to a standard piano concerto. It is composed
as a dialogue between piano and orchestra, alternating
meditative sections with lively outbursts. The orchestral
suite Xiang Yu and His Concubine is a musical representa-
tion of the tragic hero Xiang Yu, a warlord who lived in
the late Qin dynasty, whose concubine Consort Yu
committed suicide to prevent Xiang Yu from being
distracted by his love for her during the struggle of
power against Liu Bang, the founder of Han dynasty. The
work, which requires both Western and Chinese instru-
mental orchestras as well as choir, is a perfect example
of Western compositional technique blended with
Chinese instruments to express the complex feelings of
the different characters.
However, evident in these mature works is also the early
inspiration from painting and fine arts where the compos-
er tried to imagine music as an overlapping of different
layers, an interweaving of multicolored textures like a
visual representation of musical ideas. Besides the mani-
fold expressions of his language, it is possible to identify a
Ma Shui-long memorial (cont.)
caption
Luca Pisano with Ma Shui-long in his studio
Announcement of 2014 Yeh Student Travel Award
Competition
dualist approach in the structure of his music, in search
of a balance between complementary opposites, such as
abstract/concrete, void/solid, weak/strong. This evident
association with a main topic of ancient Chinese tradi-
tional thought comes from Ma’s understanding and
appreciation of Chinese traditional painting, which he
openly expounds in his Meditation on Water-Ink Paintings
for nine cellos (1985).
Ma Shui-long remained faithful to his music principles all
his life; as an educator, he struggled to raise the stand-
ards for music education in Taiwan and, with a rather
holistic approach, promoted with enthusiasm a balanced
attitude towards both music learning and standard
education itself. From this point of view, it is easy to
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 6
understand why he has been a propagator of Western
musical ideas but never their worshipper and why he
emphasized so much the necessity of Chinese tradi-
tional music learning for students majoring in compo-
sition. According to Ma, this was the only way to
allow Taiwanese composers to find their own path, to
shape their distinctive musical language while avoiding
imitation of Western patterns. With his true passion
and tireless motivation, he has been esteemed not
only as a composer and music educator, but as a
selfless music craftsman who devoted his whole life to
enrich Taiwan’s music environment, to help future
generations of Taiwanese scholars to comprehend the
profound significance of music composition and arts
education.
Ma Shui-long Memorial (cont.)
Additional Ma Shui-long Resources Further Reading
Chen Hanjin 陳漢金. Yinyue duxingxia Ma Shuilong 音樂獨行俠馬水龍. Taipei: Shibao wenhua 時報文化, 2001.
Zeng Nengding 曾能汀, ed. Tingjian Taiwan de shengyin: Ma Shuilong zuopin xueshu yantaohui lunwenji 聽見臺灣的聲音: 馬水龍作品學術研討會論文集 [The sound of Formosa: papers and proceedings of
conference on Ma Shui-long’s compositions]. Taichung: Guoli Taiwan jiaoxiang yuetuan 國立台灣交響樂團, 2008.
Further Listening
Ma Shui-long 馬水龍. Gangqin quji 鋼琴曲集 (Piano Works). Xu Zizhen 許子珍,piano. Yuanshi fengyun
Record Company 滾石風雲唱片公司, 2001.
Ma Shui-long. Capriccio of Kuando – Concerto for piano. National Symphony Orchestra, Chien Wen-Pin
Chien (conductor), Jenny Lin (piano). Taipei: National Chiang Kai-Shek Cultural Center, 2009.
Ma Shui-long. Xiang Yu and His Concubine 霸王虞姬. National Symphony Orchestra, Chiu Chun-chiang
(conductor), Taipei, National Performing Arts Center, 2014.
Ma Shui-Lung, Bamboo Flute Concerto – The Peacock flies Southeast, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony
Orchestra, Hsu Sung-jen (conductor). Taipei: Sunrise Records, 1984.
These are all the characteristics of yun.” *
Qiyun is the spiritual vigor essential to great art. In music,
it can also be referred to shengyun 声韵 as in the phrase
shengyun jianbei 声韵兼备, meaning a composition
possesses both clear notes and a lingering after-flavor.
Sheng is the “solid” sound obtained after a string is being
plucked. Similar to a an object depicted in a painting with
thick ink, it belongs to the “full”
aspect. While yun, the echoing
after-flavor of sheng, belongs to
the “empty” aspect.
In qin playing, after producing a
stopped pitch, instead of letting
the sound fade away, the left
hand executes back and forth
movements. Because these
movements are produced not
by plucking the strings but from
altering their tension, the effect
is soft, lingering, and fading, thus
belonging to the empty aspect.
The frequent use of yun is to
increase qin music’s flavor, to
give it depth, as well as to
enhance its subtlety and
expressiveness. This interplay
between sheng and yun, or
empty and full, is like a game of
“hide and seek,” as in a painting
of a dragon weaving in and out
of clouds and mist. In Chinese
aesthetics, to reveal all is
considered vulgar and undesira-
ble.
Yun tones linger between the audible and inaudible—
between being and non-being, leaving breathing spaces
for the mind to wander and rest. That is why it is
believed that playing the qin could lead to peace of mind
and longevity. Mastering these “in-between” tones
renders a carefree and mysteriously remote style in qin
music. This is the quality that I strive to cultivate in my
students.
Mingmei Yip
Remembering Playing the Qin on the Jade Terrace:
My Life as a Qin Musician, Scholar, and Calligrapher
When I began to learn the qin decades ago, the ancient
instrument was rarely heard or even seen in Hong Kong.
Indeed, there was but one teacher in the then British
Colony.
I considered myself very lucky to be Tsar Teh-yun’s 蔡德允 (1905-2007) student, because she was an excellent
qin musician. Among all the various qin playing styles, the
one she taught, xiao sa 潇洒, flowing and transcendent, is
the one I truly treasure.
It is this elegant but relaxed
style that I like so much—and
have spent much of my life
trying to improve. As a qin
teacher, I always remind my
students that beyond mere
skill, they have to master the
interplay of the xu (empty 虚)
and shi (full 实) aspects that
give flavor (yunwei 韵味) to a
piece. Only the truly accom-
plished are able to “resonate
with the cosmic breath” (qiyun
shengdong 气韵生动) and
“resemble the smoothness of
nature” (hunran tiancheng 浑然天成). Chinese art should possess
both qi and yun 韵. Qi, fully
charged energy, is the solid or
yang 阳 aspect, while yun,
lingering quality, is the empty
or yin 阴 aspect. Qi and yun
together can be translated as
resonance of the breath. If a work of calligraphy or a
painting possesses qiyun, it is filled with pulsating breath
so that one can feel its vital life force on the dried ink
and yellowed paper even after a few hundred years.
The late Neo-Confucian scholar, Hsu Fu-kuan 徐复观, explained qiyun thus: “The appearance of the concept of
qiyun was based on Zhuangzi’s philosophy, with its
attributes of purity, emptiness, mysterious, remoteness.
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 7
Mingmei Yip playing the qin
* Hsu Fu-kuan, 徐复观, Zhongguo yishu jingshen 中国艺术精神 [Spirit of Chinese Art] (Taibei: Xuesheng shuju 学生书局, 1967), 183.
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 8
Besides playing and researching the qin, I am also a
calligrapher, painter and novelist. Pursuing all of these
interests, instead of pulling me in different directions,
helps me toward fuller understanding of art and life.
Indeed, both qin and calligraphy emphasize xing qi 行气,
the cosmic breath running through each sentence of the
work. Even if each character or note is skillfully executed,
without this invisible yet palpable qi, the work will not be
considered a masterpiece; instead it will be lifeless. That is
why we consider flying white (feibai 飞白) in calligraphy
not as the lack of ink, but the revelation of nature’s
breathing space. The equivalent of flying white in qin
music is its numerous vibratos, such as yin 吟 and nao 猱,
and other “decorative” tones, aural means for the player
and listeners to rest their spirit.
From a philosophical perspective, the player and listener,
through the emptiness of the yun, can experience the
vital breath of the Dao. Without this aural space of yun
to manifest the cosmic breath, the performance will be
stuffy, stiff, and dead. The yun in qin music can be
compared to the atmospheric void left in a painting
manifested as mist, fog, and cloud. To express this, the
ink must be subtly nuanced, gradually fading into
“nothingness,” where the solid melts into the void. If the
painting possesses qiyun shengdong, the inner breath will
be felt moving in and out of the void. Lingering tones in
qin music have a similar effect; the solid notes melt into
nothingness when the playing has qiyun shengdong.
Qin music should be elusive and mysterious. Like
Chinese landscape painting, it should engender a sense of
reaching beyond, as expressed in the term “sound
beyond strings” (xianwai zhiyin 弦外之音) that opens into
infinity. This subtlety is most cherished by the literati, for
Mingmei Yip on the Qin (cont.)
Mingmei’s calligraphy workshop and calligraphy display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Mingmei’s painting and calligraphy
this makes them best for meditative focusing of the
mind. Cursive style uses a slanted brush (pianfeng 偏锋)
as well as centered brush and is executed in a much
faster pace, so it is good for liberating one’s mind from
the clutter of daily life.
There are qin pieces which serve these two purposes of
meditation and liberation. An example of the of the
former is the Buddhist piece, Incantation of the Monk Pu
An (Pu An zou 普庵咒). Imitating drums, bells and monks’
steady footsteps, Pu An Zou has a regular rhythm and is a
quiet piece. In contrast, Soaring Dragon (Longxiang cao龙翔操), depicting a dragon soaring in the sky, adopts a
it embodies the spirit of the Dao.
As Laozi said: “In the pursuit of the Way,
everyday something is dropped.” For
traditional literati, the main reason for
playing the qin is to harmonize with the
Dao. Qin music is entertainment, but it is
also more than that—a way of simplifying
life. Even a complicated piece should be
played so that listeners would be immersed
in the spirit of the Dao. This is considered
superior to superficial, overflowing tones,
or “busy hands, lascivious sounds” (fanshou
yinsheng 繁手淫声). Sadly, the performance
of qin music has changed since ancient
times. Now qin playing is often showy and
extroverted, with speed and gyrations
replacing the Confucian dignity of the
literati style. The spirit of “less is more” is
lost in this manner of performing.
A student of mine who leads an extremely hectic life
working on Wall Street told me that practicing the qin
allows him to escape from the smoke and dust of this
world to a land of purity and calm. I believe it is due to
the traditional qin style’s slow tempo, low pitch, and
relaxation-inducing vibrato.
In teaching calligraphy, I recommend to my students that
they practice the various from of Chinese writing, seal
script (zhuan shu 篆书), clerical script (li shu 隶书), and
cursive (cao shu 草书). Seal and clerical scripts require
slow speed and the centered brush (zhongfeng 中锋);
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 9
Mingmei Yip on the Qin (cont.)
Mingmei’s qin book and qin novel
Mingmei’s qin song composition and handwritten tablature
Announcement of 2014 Yeh Student Travel Award
Competition
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 10
Here is a qin poem I wrote many years ago:
free rhythm and
should be played like
the cursive style
calligraphy which is
spontaneous and
carefree.
Over the years, I have
composed more than
fifteen qin songs; the
lyrics are all ancient
Chinese poems. My
current project is
composition of
instrumental pieces
with abstract themes
inspired by various
kinds of calligraphic
lines.
Besides being a qin musician, scholar, and calligrapher,
I also write fiction, as well as write and illustrate
children’s books. I have made use of my qin research
over the years in getting ideas for my novels.
My first novel, Peach Blossom Pavilion, is about the last
Chinese courtesan who is also a renowned qin
musician —elegant prostitutes were a recognized
category of female qin players.
To master qin playing, or any other Chinese art, we
need to study its Way (Dao 道), which includes its
history, aesthetics, and performance practice.
Fortunately, many philosophical and aesthetic texts
survive from past centuries to keep alive the traditions
of this instrument. I believe that learning the techniques
of playing the qin needs to be supplemented by
knowledge of its history and aesthetics.
I would recommend that anyone interested in qin and
calligraphy read Tao Yuanming’s
poem “Returning Home” (Guiqu
laici, 归去来辞). Guiqu laici is
also a famous qin piece that
praises the poet’s return to an
honest, reclusive life after
serving in the dusty world as an
official. Like Tao’s homecoming,
after forty years of playing the
qin, I hope I’ve made at least
modest progress toward
developing the qin player’s
beginner’s heart.
Mingmei Yip on the Qin (cont.)
Mingmei’s children’s books
Program from Mingmei’s qin and calligraphy event at Carnegie Hall
Amidst electronic madness,
I encounter this mysterious karma of the qin
Created by Fu Xi’s finger tips
Now, five thousand years later,
The seven strings
Still tightly strung.
Delicate silk, still reciting legends.
Lost to memory.
在二十世纪电子音响的纠缠中 我独结上了 五千年前 来自伏羲指触的神秘琴弦 都五千岁了 这七条太古的弦 依然牟拴在 年轻的现代 依然用丝一般温柔的呼吸 吐出五千年来种种搁在记忆以外的 传说
Smithsonian Folklife report
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 11
The 2015 Shanghai World Music Forum,
with the theme, “World Music and the
Construction of a Global City,” took
place in the afternoon of Friday, Octo-
ber 16, 2015, at the Shanghai Conserva-
tory of Music. The forum was held as
part of this year’s Shanghai World Music
Festival, now in its eighth year, which
ran October 1-18 and proudly featured
a line-up of twenty “world music”
acts—thirteen of them from abroad and
the remaining seven based in China. The
various Festival concerts took place in five different
venues, three of them located within Shanghai, and the
other two in Hangzhou and Pinghu, both in Zhejiang
Province.
The Shanghai World Music Festival started in 2008 as
“Shanghai World Music Week,” sponsored by the
Shanghai World Expo Bureau, but came into its own in
2012 after the World Expo and Guangzhou Asian
Games produced a large number of “world music”
performances. This year's Festival included a roundtable
forum co-organized with the Shanghai Conservatory of
Music Research Center for Chinese Music and Ritual,
headed by Prof. Xiao Mei. Participants were a mixed
group and included the Festival producers, academic
scholars, journalists and media critics,
media group representatives, and some
of the Festival’s featured musicians.
Among the academic scholar partici-
pants were Professors Xiao Mei, Zhao
Weiping and Liu Hong of the Shanghai
Conservatory, ACMR president Prof.
Chuen-fung Wong of Hong Kong Bap-
tist University, as well as Prof. Mer-
cedes Dujunco, now with Suzhou Uni-
versity of Science and Technology.
The roundtable discussion was divided into four parts,
each revolving around a topic: (1) “World Music and the
Construction of a Global City”; (2) “Traditional Music in
a Contemporary Urban Context”; (3) “The International
Exchange and Dissemination of World Music”; and (4)
“World Music and Contemporary Music Composition.”
With such a mixed group of discussants, each one allot-
ted only ten minutes to talk, and with hardly a working
definition of or at least a general consensus as to what
“world music” is, the Forum can be described as rather
ambitious. However, given that this is the first time that
one devoted specifically to this topic has taken place,
whether in Shanghai or in China at large, it is quite re-
markable and commendable and subsequent ones should
be encouraged.
Mercedes Dujunco, Suzhou University of Science and Technology
The 2015 Shanghai World Music Forum
Presenters at the 2015 Shanghai World Music Forum
The American Folklore Society
(AFS) held its conference Octo-
ber 14-17, 2015 in Long Beach,
California. Over the last seven
years, with funding from the Luce
Foundation, AFS and the Chinese
Folklore Society (CFS) have
worked together on a collabora-
tive project on intangible cultural
heritage as well as museum stud-
ies. This project has involved
research, training, exchanges, and
exhibitions. It also has resulted in
a rapid increase in the number of
China-related panels and col-
leagues from China at AFS annual
meetings. AFS conferences have
become another good opportuni-
ty for ACMR members to pre-
sent papers on Chinese music
and expressive culture as well as
to meet colleagues in related
fields.
This year’s meeting featured five panels and forums
devoted to China-related topics, including two panels
that focused on the AFS/CFS cooperative project: “China
and US Folklore Collaborations: A Progress Report” and
“China and US Intangible Cultural Heritage and Ethno-
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 12
Sue Tuohy, Indiana University
graphic Museum Practice: Recent Activities and Looking
Forward.” Two forums were organized around the topic
of Chinese Everyday Ritual Practices, “Part I: Reflecting and
Negotiating Change” (chaired by ACMR member Sue
Tuohy) and “Part II: The Meaning of Becoming an Adult.”
Two other panels were titled “Studies on Folkloric Ecology
of Villages in Modern and Contemporary North China”
and “Cultural Encounters, Ecolo-
gies, and Enactments in Contem-
porary China.” Chinese Ameri-
can expressive culture and sites
were discussed by Gilbert Hom
(Chinese Historical Society of
Southern California) and Eugene
Moy (Chinese Historical Society
of Southern California) in a
forum on “Asian/South Asian/
Pacific Islander American Issues
in Historic Preservation.”
Apart from these panels, schol-
ars presented at least seven
individual papers on expressive
traditions in China and the
Sinophone world, including
Beverly Joan Butcher (New York
Institute of Technology, Nanjing
Campus), “Filipino and Chinese Chinese Folklore Society panel
Report on the American Folklore Society 2015 Conference
CFS Guangzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage panel
Vol. 21, no. 2 ACMR Newsletter Page 13
American Folklore Society (cont.)
Folk Traditions in
Contemporary Bohol,
Philippines, Catholic
Life”; Lei Cai (Wuhan
University and Penn
State Harrisburg),
“Craft Industry and
Village Community: A
Case Study in Yang
Village of Northern
China”; Jin Feng
(Lawrence Technolog-
ical University),
“Ecology of House-
hold Furniture in a
Mountain Village”;
Thomas A. Green
(Texas A&M Universi-
ty), “ ‘Fighting While
Talking’: Chinese Folk
Drama as Embodied
History”; Jing Li
(Gettysburg College),
“Telling Her Story as a Woman: The China-Made Hua
Mulan (2009)”; Nankuai Modege (Xinjiang Normal Universi-
ty, China), “Encounter of Ecology, Culture, and Ethnology:
A Case Study of the Hemu Village”; and Meng Ren
(University of Missouri), “Changing Perspectives: From
Collective Identity to Individual Identity in the Research of
Chinese Reggae.”
Several colleagues in China Studies met at the Transnational
Asia/Pacific Section, chaired by Levi Gibbs (who works on
Some China colleagues enjoy lunch
CHIME (The European Foundation for Chinese Music
Research) held their nineteenth international meeting from
October 21 through 25 in Geneva, Switzerland. The
meeting was hosted by the Haute Ecole de Musique de
Genève in collaboration with the Confucius Institute of the
University of Geneva. Over fifty paper presentations, seven
roundtable discussions, three film screenings, two formal
concerts and several recitals explored the meeting’s theme,
“The New Face of Chinese Music.” From traditional qin
performance and regional instrumental musics to contem-
porary composition and popular music, the topics covered
by presenters varied widely, but were united in inspiring
spirited debate among attendees about the balance be-
tween tradition and innovation in the diversity of music in
contemporary China. On the first evening, the Nanyin
Yayi Musical Association welcomed attendees with a
program of nanyin music from Fujian. On the third
evening, Yi Jia Ren, an internationally renowned shawm
and percussion ensemble from Henan and Shanbei, filled
the conservatory’s historic recital hall with adaptations
of traditional wedding and funeral music. On the final
evening, a reception hosted in the Confucius Institute of
the University of Geneva’s gorgeous house on the banks
of Lake Geneva allowed attendees to mingle and
continue the lively conversations the meeting generated
against a backdrop of sunset views of the lake and the
mountains beyond.
Adam Kielman, Columbia University
19th International CHIME Meeting
Shaanxi folksingers and folksongs). And throughout the
meeting, colleagues and friends in China Studies—
including ACMR member Charlotte D'Evelyn—also got
together for meals and social activities. Next year’s AFS
conference will be held in conjunction with the Interna-
tional Society for Folk Narrative Research in Miami,
Florida from October 19-22, 2016; for information, see
www.afsnet.org. If you are interested in presenting a
paper and/or organizing a panel or forum, feel free to
contact Sue Tuohy ([email protected]).
CURRENT ACMR OFFICERS
Chuen-Fung Wong Hong Kong Baptist University
president
Jessica Anderson Turner Indiana University and Birthplace
of Country Music Museum
secretary
Alan Kagan Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
treasurer
Sue Tuohy Indiana University
member-at-large
Elise Anderson Indiana University
student member
Yuan-Yu Kuan University of Hawai’i, Manoa
student member and
bibliography editor
Meredith Schweig Emory University
bibliography editor
Aimei Luo Chinese University of Hong Kong
bibliography editor
Alec McLane Wesleyan University
bibliography editor
Theodore Kwok University of Hawai`i, Manoa
website editor
Gloria Wong Independent scholar
newsletter editor
Lars Christensen Univ. of Minnesota, Twin Cities
newsletter editor
Adam Kielman Columbia University
newsletter editor
Membership Dues
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
December 3–6, 2015
60th Annual Society for Ethnomusicology Meeting
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
http://www.indiana.edu/~semhome/2015/index.shtml
February 18 - 20, 2016
Territories, Communities, and Exchanges in the Sino-Tibetan Borderlands
Paris, France
http://www.kham.sciencesconf.org
March 31–April 3, 2016
Association for Asian Studies Annual Conference
Sheraton Seattle Hotel and Washington State Convention Center, Seattle, Washington
http://www.asian-studies.org/Conference/
March 31, 2016
CHINOPERL (Chinese Oral and Performing Literature) Annual Meeting
In conjunction with AAS, Seattle, Washington
https://chinoperl.osu.edu/conference
April 6 - 8, 2016
2016 International Symposium: “Reclaiming Identity and (Re)Materializing
Pasts: Approaches to Heritage Conservation in China”
Xi'an Jiatong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), Suzhou, China
http://upd.xjtlu.edu.cn/heritageofchina2016
May 28 - 30, 2016
International Association for the Study of Popular Music US and Canada
Branches 2016 Annual Conference
Calgary, Canada
http://iaspm-us.net/call-for-proposals-iaspm-us-and-canada-2016-annual-conference/
CFP deadline: December 1, 2015
July 6 - 9, 2016
PSi#22: Performance Climates (Annual Meeting of Performance Studies Inter-
national)
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
www.psi2016.com
CFP deadline: December 1, 2015
August 25 - 27, 2016
ICTM Study Group on Musics of East Asia Symposium
Academia Sinica & Taipei National University of the Arts, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.ictmusic.org/group/musics-east-asia
CFP deadline: January 20, 2016
October 19-22, 2016
Joint Meeting of the American Folklore Society and International Society for
Folk Narrative Research
Hyatt Regency Miami, Miami, Florida
http://www.afsnet.org/?2016AM
CFP deadline: March 31, 2016
ACMR Newsletter Page 14 Vol. 21, no. 2